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Tuesday, January 17, 2012

New Year's Eve Changi Offshore Fishing

Almost every year, i will try to have a "last fish of the year" trip. Thankfully, i managed to book Ah Long this year... But a few weeks for before the booking, it kept raining everyday... so we are all praying hard the rain stops during our trip. The trip was done in such a way that if the rain proves to be still raging, the Captain will call me to discuss and we might cancel the trip. But... luckily 2 days before the trip it was sunny all the way... This might not be enough though as it requires a few days sun to "wash away" the freshwater in the sea...

All go!

Let me share some of my knowledge here for Changi Offshore as many do not know the fishing strategy there... it's very important to note that Changi and Punggol are considered "rivers" and that the main sea is actually in the direction of Johor Shoals or off Changi Naval base... This is where the saltwater comes from.

Hence during the rainy season, freshwater from Changi, Punggol, Ubin and Pengerang side will all flush down... This is during outgoing tide in which the water is flowing towards the main sea which is Changi Naval base side... this is EXTREMELY DETRIMENTAL to fishing near Ubin, Changi side during heavy rain as it will bring all the catfishes out because the water salinity is very freshy due to the rain water...

The solution to this problem is to fish at the open sea... as the fishes that love saltwater like grouper will move out into the open sea... note that if it is not rainy season, no worries.... the fishes will still be here...

Now then one will ask ... So we don't fish near Tekong, Ubin or Punggol during rainy season?! Not true... The key is to fish there when water is INCOMING... means water is moving from the main sea Changi Naval base area to Ubin... this will bring some salinity into the water and fishes will move in to feed...

The key to fish in the rainy season is to either book a spring tide which will mean good salinity... or book a tide which is incoming the whole day or most of the day...

Back to the trip... This trip saw the incoming tide occur in the morning and we had a good catch of Snappers and Groupers in the morning. After lunch saw us catching catfishes and the likes...